Despicable Me 3 Movie Review: This Fast Paced 3rd Installment Of This Billion Dollar Franchise Won't Disappoint The Fans Of Gru Or The Minions

THE FIRST "Despicable Me" was shown in 2010 made by Illumination Entertainment at a budget of only $69 million but grossed $543 million worldwide, so it's not surprising to have a sequel in 2013 and now, another one this year. It also made the Minions very popular and they even had their own self-titled movie in 2015.

The directorial debut of Pierre Coffin (who also voices the minions) and Chris Renaud, "Despicable Me" introduced us the Loony Tunes kind of humor of the character of Gru (voice by Steven Carell), a super villain who adopts three adorable orphan girls (Miranda Cosgrove, Dana Gaier and Elsie Fisher) and takes care of them with the help of Lucy (Kristen Wiig), who becomes Gru's love interest. The villain then was Vector, who stole the Great Pyramid of Giza. In "Despicable Me 2", the villain is El Macho (Benjamin Bratt), who stole a deadly serum.

Now, in DM 3 (which is released way ahead here in Manila as it opens in the U.S. on June 30 yet), we have a new villain, Balthazar Bratt (Trey Parker of "South Park"), a former child star in the 80s who has since turned into a life of crime and steals the world's biggest pink diamond gem. He can disarm people through expanding giant bubble gums and loves break-dancing to the music of Michael Jackson and Van Halen.

Another new character is introduced, Dru (also played by Carell), the blonde long lost twin brother of Gru who he never even knew existed.

Their mom (Julie Andrews) reveals that they were separated at birth by their dad. The original premise of a bad guy who can't help being a villain has since been forgotten as Gru is now a good guy who works with the Anti-Villain League.

As usual, the film is paced at breakneck speed at one hour and a half, with lots of action scenes, some comic scenes and also some drama to make sure there is never a dull moment, replete with 80s pop cultural references and songs by Pharrell Williams. And yes, we should not forget, the yellow minions are still here, even if they seem to just
get pushed into the margins when they're one of the primary reasons why this franchise makes millions. They go on strike after Gru decides to be a good guy and not a villain anymore. But not to worry as they do get to display their singing talent in an entertaining musical number that reminds you of "Sing" and do some mischief during a prison break.

The first two films have touching moments of Gru bonding with his adopted daughters. Here, they are given small subplots of their own with the most endearing one concerning the obsession of the youngest one, Agnes, in finding a real unicorn. She goes into the woods and patiently waits for the unicorn. Instead, what she gets is a one-horned goat who quickly and fondly sidles up to her. Gru has to explain to her it's not really a unicorn but a goat, saying "Life can be like that. You expect a unicorn, but you get a one-horned goat." Agnes says: "But I love it." And so it goes with this movie, does it matter if it's just a goat and not a unicorn, as long as you enjoyed watching it? For sure, there will be DM4.
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